Reporter Jesse Reynolds takes a look at some recent releases by Western’s academics.
From the Other Side of the Fence
Pottersfield Press
Editor: Jeff Nisker
Health care in Canada is not in the same shape it was in a few decades ago; an increased Canadian population and financial neglect have left hospitals overcrowded and health care professionals overworked.
In this collection, Nisker gives a voice to nurses, physicians, physiotherapists and more – people we only seem to encounter at the worst of times, and sometimes misunderstand. The short stories, plays and poems offer the reader an inside look at a health care system that is in dire need of funding and improvement.
“I’m dismayed by the direction that health care has gone over the last 15 years,” says Nisker. “Major changes need to be made to allow Canadian health care to get back to the way it was when I started practice.”
The story after which the book is named, “From the Other Side of the Fence” is written by Michele Ivanouski, a nurse at the London Health Sciences Centre. It explores the different dimensions that health care professionals seem to exist in. When Ivanouski is put in the place of the relatives of so many patients she had dealt with in 15 years as a nurse, she comes to realize how a family health emergency can affect people – a realization that helped her become more empathetic in her work.
“An open letter to my patients…” by another nurse, Lori Robson, demonstrates how difficult it can be for health care providers to communicate with their patients. Labelled as a work in progress, with several sentences crossed out, Robson unsuccessfully attempts to put her approach and attitude into words – a struggle she faces with each new patient.
For Nisker, better communication is the first step toward improvement in the future.
“Through story we can try to face these challenges and ultimately have a more compassionate health care system in Canada.”
Jeff Nisker is a professor of Obstetrics-Gynaecology and Oncology and coordinator of Medical Ethics and Humanities for the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. CBC’s Peter Gzowski, the late broadcaster, chose him as one of the 13 “Best Minds of our Time.”
Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective
Oxford University Press
Editor: James B. Davies
Who owns the world?
It’s not exactly a difficult question to answer. Over the past half-century, it’s no secret that most of the personal wealth in the world has been concentrated in North America, Europe and a few other countries. In this comprehensive study, the global inequality of personal wealth is explored in-depth, including the examination of transition economies, emerging economies and the developing world for the first time.
Edited by Davies, with a few dozen contributors from respected institutions worldwide, the study was prepared for the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. Already heralded by a number of top economists, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the global economy or wealth and inequality as they relate to globalization. In today’s rough economic climate, knowledge of personal wealth and the distribution of income are critical even to the general public.
“It’s become increasingly important that people achieve personal economic security,” says Davies. “People are asked to show more initiative and responsibility in building up their own resources.”
The study provides an incredibly detailed understanding of the distribution of wealth and the global economy as a whole, and broken down into smaller parts. Davies believes that anyone could – and should – pick it up and read it.
“It’s very general interest,” he says. “This is an area where there are lots of difficulties; they are brought to light by the current economic crisis.”
James B. Davies is a professor of Economics and the RBC Financial Group Fellow at The University of Western Ontario. The former chair of the Economics department, he now serves as managing editor of Canadian Public Policy, a journal examining economic and social policy.
The 10 Conversations You Must Have Before You Get Married
Key Porter Books
Author: Dr. Guy Grenier
Over the course of his psychological practice, Grenier came to realize a serious problem that affects many adult relationships, and set out to correct it by writing this book.
“I was going over the same material over and over with most of my clients,” he says. “Whatever the problem was, it became very clear to me that people just don’t know how to communicate.”
Many couples neglect to discuss important issues before tying the knot, and it can cause serious problems for the relationship over time. Grenier attempts to provide blanket coverage over as many issues as possible with 10 conversations ranging from kids and careers to sex and religion.
But can these conversations really be the difference between a successful relationship and a failed one?
“It dramatically increases the chances that you’re going to create a relationship that is sustainable,” says Grenier. “Nothing can be guaranteed, but there are so many problems that can be avoided with communication.”
One of the most important thing a couple can learn from the book, says Grenier, is not only how to have these 10 conversations, but how to have every other important discussion over the course of their relationship. The worst mistake a young couple can make is to marry irresponsibly. An unsuccessful marriage can damage the lives of both partners enormously.
“Bad relationships are tremendously expensive: emotionally, socially, they are hard on children, and strictly from a dollars and cents point of view,” says Grenier.
Guy Grenier is a clinical psychologist specializing in relationships and human sexuality practicing in London, Ont. A former adjunct professor of Human Sexuality at The University of Western Ontario, he gave up teaching to complete his book and hopes to return to Western in the future.
Unlikely Soldiers
Harper Collins
Author: Jonathan Vance
When his publisher told him of the stories of Frank Pickersgill and Ken Macalister, Vance remembered reading about them as a teenager. Later, their classified files from Britain were released for public use, and Vance knew he needed to write a book about them.
Pickersgill and Macalister were academics with bright futures, but when the Second World War began, they both decided that they were better served as spies.
“They were remarkably gifted guys who could have done amazing things had they live. They were both bound for greatness,” says Vance. “They had to be personally involved, and paid with their lives.
Pickersgill, an up-and-coming journalist, and Macalister, a brilliant Rhodes Scholar, were trained as British Special Operations Executive spies and parachuted into France in 1943, on a mission to assist the French resistance and sabotage the Nazi occupation from within. Vance believes that Canadians can learn a great deal from the story of their countrymen.
“It’s a lesson in service for all of us,” he says. “Two guys who could have done anything with their lives, but it wasn’t enough for them to be philosophers, they actually wanted to do things. Two people who put their idealism into action, who didn’t sit back and let others do the work for them.”
The values of these young men were truly Canadian, and they stood for those values against the oppression and tyranny of the Nazi regime.
“They saw a situation that disturbed them enormously and they decided to take a personal hand in ending it.”
Holder of the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Culture, Jonathan Vance is a professor of History at The University of Western Ontario. An award-winning author and historian, he has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
The Limits of Boundaries
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Author: Andrew Sancton
For a long time, people around the world have been moving away from rural areas and into major cities. As the population of a city-region grows, so too does its boundaries and influence. In the next logical step, they become self-governing – Toronto has been eyed before as the first self-governing city-region in Canada.
“The nation state is losing its importance and city-regions are becoming much more important economically,” says Sancton, who uses Toronto as the main case study throughout the book.
Mega-cities with large populations, a strong metropolitan government and influence on the surrounding area are prime candidates to become self-governing. In the case of Toronto, Sancton believes that the provincial government has, and should continue to assert itself; city-regions in our society cannot be self-governing.
“I don’t really think they have a future anywhere,” he says. “The reason for that is that it’s impossible to define what the boundaries of city-regions are.”
Though the book mostly appeals to those interested in political science, Sancton believes that people throughout south-western Ontario could stand to learn about the issues involved in the governance of city-regions.
“It’s especially interesting for people in London because we are not included in any definition of the Toronto region, but I think many of us see Toronto as having a huge influence on life in London.”
Andrew Sancton is the director of the local government program at The University of Western Ontario. He is the author of six books on city-regions and municipal politics.
Dress and the Roman Woman
Routeledge
Author: Kelly Olson
Walking down the street today in London you can learn a lot about someone just by looking at how they are dressed. It was much the same in ancient Rome, where the subtlest details of a woman’s dress distinguished her from other levels of the social and moral hierarchy.
With the help of artistic evidence and literary references, Olson dissects the meaning of different types of clothing, cosmetics and ornaments.
“Clothing tells us so much about society,” she says. “I love what it says about gender roles, age difference and class differences. The most interesting part of a society is how it visualizes itself.”
For Olson, who has published several book chapters and articles on Roman women and ancient clothing, her area of interest was a natural progression.
“I’ve always been interested by fashion and ancient Rome, so I combined the two.”
Through her work, she has not only learned about Roman society, she has debunked some of our modern myths about the way the people of Rome dressed.
“It was really colourful,” she says. “Our eyes have been schooled by the grey imagery of neo-classicism. We imagine white buildings, white columns and white togas.”
For all of the research she has done, Olson knows all about the social statement that could be made and the power that could be achieved with simple change of clothes.
“You learn so much more about the society in general if you know what they wear. Oscar Wilde said that the true mystery is in the visible, not in the invisible.”
Kelly Olson is an associate professor of Classical Studies at the University of Western Ontario, specializing in ancient Greek and Roman society and culture.
Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (First Canadian edition)
Nelson Books
Authors: Frances Sizer, Ellie Whitney, Leonard Piche (Western), with contributions by Alicia Garcia (Western)
Every year, there is a growing concern about what people in North America are eating. These days, with so much unhealthy, processed food readily available to us, it can be hard to know what not to eat.
“In light of the fact that there’s been an enormous increase in body weight the last couple of decades, I think it’s something that everyone is going to have to consider more carefully,” says Piche.
That’s why he made sure this book – designed as an entry-level university textbook – assumed no prior knowledge and could be picked up and understood by anyone with a high-school education. Readers can learn everything from basic food choices and health standards to the many kinds of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. The text attempts to better explain health conundrums like trans fats, osteoporosis and vegetarian diets.
With a chapter on physical activity and the body’s response, the book reads more like an in-depth guide to healthy living than a nutrition textbook. Piche hopes texts like this will continue the trend of increased health awareness on the part of all Canadians.
“In the last few years, for the first time in Canada, we’re finally getting some information about what people across the country are actually consuming. Canadians are becoming far more aware of what they’re buying for themselves and for their families.”
Leonard Piche is a professor of Nutrition for Brescia University College at The University of Western Ontario. He is a member of nine national nutrition organizations and serves on the expert advisory committee on natural health products for Health Canada.
Understanding Musical Understanding
Edwin Mellen Press
Author: Harold Fiske
What is your brain doing while you listen to music?
As far as most research is concerned, not much. That’s why Fiske has spent the past 35 years working to prove that our perception and cognition is far more than an automated process.
“This outlook mostly misses what users seem to take from a musical experience,” says Fiske, who has tried to define the term musical thinking.
“Specifically, musical thinking is the listener’s ability to identify musical patterns and decide how these patterns interrelate through the course of a musical work,” he says. “It seems to capture what composers, listeners, and performers do when they are making or experiencing music.”
In a series of research experiments, Fiske approached the issue “from a cognitive psychology and cognitive philosophy point of view. In this respect, the book amalgamates psychology and philosophy of music cognition, and culture.”
The book begins by explaining the nature of time perception and tonal-rhythmic pattern constructions, and moves on to musical memory and consciousness. The most contentious issue that Fiske explores is music quality discrimination – “and whether or not we can understand the music of foreign cultures.”
But don’t let all the technical jargon fool you – Fiske wrote this book for anyone to read.
“The new (book) is, I think, the most accessible content-wise; it is intended for any reader with an interest in music.”
An internationally recognized music researcher, lecturer and author, Harold Fiske is a professor of Music Education at The University of Western Ontario. In addition to 75 papers published, he is also the author of five books.